Fl. Per.: February-March.

Holotype: Dodoens, De Stirpium historia commentariorum imagines 61.1559 (fide Burtt in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 29:186.1968).

Distribution: The same as that of the type variety.

The pimpernel is a common spring weed of abandoned fields, irrigation canals, along roadsides and waste places, in ditches and meadows. The blue colour of the flower can fade with age to almost white-pink as observed in plants collected from Cambellpur (Attock Dist). A specimen collected from Shakargarh (Sialkot Dist.) has a ± erect habit, the flowers are smaller than usual, the corolla in some cases equalling the calyx and a smaller capsule (3.5-4.5 mm broad). The leaves in a specimen from Dadu (Sind, coll. no. 474) are larger than usual, 30 x 11 mm), and may possibly represent the var. latifolia (L.) Lange. More plant material from the above mentioned localities is desirable to ascertain the identity of these ‘morphological types’, and are included here provisionally, pending further information. P. Taylor (1955, Kew Bull. (3): p. 330) has suggested that the predominance of the var. arvensis in northern areas and the occurrence of the blue flowered var. coerulea in the tropics generally, may be due to photoperiodism and other genetic factors involved. In Pakistan and Kashmir the latitude as well as the elevation of the place appear to be concerned.